Bottom line: Clemson, USC lead signing winners, losers
Every head coach in the Bowl Subdivision spends national signing day crowing about how his team got better. As if it’s somehow possible to add another two dozen or so prospects into your program and get worse.
All platitudes aside, there are varying grades of success on signing day.
Those FBS programs in annual contention for national championships battle for five-star talent. Others are known more for digging deep to find undiscovered and overlooked diamonds in the rough.
There is a second signing date in February, so several teams might continue to add commitments across the next two months, especially those programs led by a new coaching staff. By and large, however, teams across the FBS have only a handful of open spots, if any, after the early signing period.
A true grade of this year’s signing day will come four or five years down the road. For now, here’s who came out on top and who still has work to do on the recruiting trail.
WINNERS
Clemson
The Tigers have been in firm control of the nation’s top-rated class and the most impressive group of Dabo Swinney’s tenure since the summer, with a star-studded list of signees headlined
by the nation’s top recruit in defensive tackle Bryan Breese of Damascus, Maryland. There’s more: Breese is joined by the top quarterback recruit in DJ Uiagalelei and another dozen prospects ranked among the top nine at their respective positions. (This is recruiting territory typically inhabited only by Alabama.) It’s the sort of class that does more than just replenish another round of losses to the NFL – it almost ensures that Clemson will remain at the forefront of the FBS as we turn to the 2020s.
Ohio State
Ryan Day’s first full class as the Buckeyes’ head coach is an unquestioned success. Loaded with in-state prospects and heavy on receivers, offensive linemen and defensive backs, Ohio State pulled in a group that fits snugly in the top five nationally and includes at least a handful of immediate-impact additions to an already deep roster. The most impressive pull is five-star wide receiver Julian Fleming, whom the Buckeyes reeled in from Penn State’s backyard. While several other Big Ten teams brought in strong classes, the talent gap continues to grow between OSU and the rest of the conference.
Kentucky
The Wildcats might not have inked the same sort of star power seen at Alabama, LSU and elsewhere in the Southeastern Conference, especially at the offensive skill positions. (It’s a statement about the league’s recruiting that Kentucky’s haul ranks in the top 25 nationally but in the bottom half among SEC teams.) Where the class is strongest is on both lines: Kentucky’s haul on the offensive and defensive fronts, highlighted by four-star defensive end Justin Rogers, should form the foundation for the program’s continued success under coach Mark Stoops.
Cincinnati
Coach Luke Fickell capitalized on another strong season to bring in the toprated class among the Group of Five, according to the composite rankings from 247Sports.com. With 10 in-state commitments and a pair of four-star recruits among its 16 signees, Cincinnati brought in a group heavy on linemen while leaving flexibility to add another handful of prospects in February.
South Carolina and Nebraska
The two outliers among the top classes: South Carolina and Nebraska were the only programs to miss out on bowl play yet sign groups inside the top 20 nationally, per 247Sports. The Gamecocks’ biggest coup came with the verbal commitment of five-star defensive end Jordan Burch, an in-state prospect with offers from power programs across the FBS. (Yes, that includes rival Clemson.) Nebraska coach Scott Frost dipped into Florida to add speed at receiver and in the secondary and also tapped into the junior college circuit to add a key piece to the Cornhuskers’ offensive puzzle in four-star wide receiver Omar Manning.
LOSERS Southern California
The Trojans’ signing class is unsurprisingly low on numbers and top-tier talent given the innuendo and rumors circling around coach Clay Helton’s job security during the regular season. But with the fewest commitments of any team in the Pac-12, USC is well out of position to sign the sort of group needed to leap from this year’s eight-win regular season into the Rose Bowl mix. Other programs within the conference are only too happy to fill the void. Oregon signed the state’s top prospect in linebacker Justin Flowe, while the Ducks and Washington combined to sign 16 recruits from California.
New head coaches
The early period is very hard on new coaches. In the past, hires made in December had as much as two months to close out a recruiting class. Now, new staffs are forced to scramble during a shortened window to solidify verbal commitments or identify targets. This wasn’t an issue for Washington, which went with continuity in promoting assistant Jimmy Lake and secured what might be the best class in the Pac-12.
New Florida State coach Mike Norvell closed on a top-25 group highlighted on signing day by the addition of four-star quarterback Chubba Purdy, who flipped from Louisville. New Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz was able to persuade several local recruits to stick with the Tigers despite overtures from neighboring Power Five schools. Back at Rutgers, Greg Schiano pulled off an impressive flip in taking local product Tyreem Powell away from Virginia Tech leading into signing day.